Dissatisfied residents of the Gračanica municipality, near Pristina, have protested for the second consecutive day in front of health institutions operating under the Serbian system, due to “party and family-based employment,” demanding the annulment and revision of the competitions for these positions.
These protests mainly concern the positions announced by the Serbian Ministry of Health at the end of January, which the Serbian List – the largest party of Serbs in Kosovo, supported by Belgrade – had also mentioned during the campaign for Kosovo’s parliamentary elections held on February 9.
Emphasizing that the Serbian List is the only party with the support of the Serbian state, its leader, Zlatan Elek, declared during the election campaign that “in the past, the Serbian state has secured a large number of jobs, and this is one of the ways to survive [in Kosovo].”
However, some residents of Gračanica now claim that the jobs were exclusively filled by individuals close to the Serbian List, highlighting that local representatives had promised jobs “until the last moment,” and that some of those employed do not even live in Kosovo.
Moreover, some leaders of health institutions in Serb-majority areas of Kosovo are members of the Serbian List. For example, the leader of this party, Zlatan Elek, is the director of the Clinical Hospital Center in North Mitrovica, while the director of the Health Center in Gračanica, Mirjana Dimitrijević, was on the candidate list for the party’s parliamentary election on February 9.
During a protest held on April 4th in front of the Health Center in Uglar, in the municipality of Gračanica, some dissatisfied citizens expressed that they had voted for the Serbian Progressive Party in the Serbian elections and that now the Serbian state should “protect them.”
“We all voted for our president [the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić] and for the Serbian Progressive Party. Do not let them [the Serbian List] say that these are people who voted against our state… Our president is Aleksandar Vučić, but unfortunately he is being misinformed. The truth is not reaching him,” said Momo Jovanović, a protest participant.
He claimed that his son, who has a contract for a fee-based job, was “ordered” in mid-March by his employer to go to the Pioneer Park in Belgrade, where the student camp opposing faculty blockades in Serbia by protesting students is located. Radio Free Europe reported on March 14 that Serbs from Kosovo were “showing support” for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Among them were also representatives of the Serbian List.
The day before, in front of the Health Center in Gračanica, some dissatisfied citizens said they “support Vučić and the Serbian state,” but could no longer “tolerate local politicians.”
Among them was Sanja Aksić, who said she was not accepted for employment because the Ministry for Communities and Returns of Kosovo was building her a house. The head of this ministry, in the last two years, has been Nenad Rašić from the party “For Freedom, Justice, and Survival,” who won a mandate in the last parliamentary elections in the Kosovo Assembly. The other nine mandates, reserved for the Serbian community, went to the Serbian List.
“This is shamelessness,” Aksić said, emphasizing that she is a self-sustaining mother.
What Do the Authorities Say?
The director of the Health Center in Gračanica, Mirjana Dimitrijević, said she understands the citizens’ dissatisfaction, but that it is impossible to accept all applicants.
“The Health Center in Gračanica announced a competition for 52 job positions, both medical and non-medical staff. We received 750 applications, and only 52 will be accepted. What I want to emphasize is that I understand the dissatisfaction, but we cannot accept more people,” she said, adding that now is the period for complaints, which dissatisfied citizens can use to submit their objections.
In response to journalists’ questions about the accusations of party-based employment, Dimitrijević said: “I truly cannot respond to this question. A commission has been formed, and I have received the proposal from this commission for the candidates.”
Petar Gjorgjević from Gračanica emphasized that the number of people who participated in the protest on Friday was significantly lower, as during the night and morning of Friday there had been “threats.” He did not specify exactly who had threatened the protest participants or exerted pressure on them.
“I warn all participants in the protest to document all the threats they receive via voice or text messages and to hand them over to the police,” he said.
He also presented the demands of the dissatisfied citizens, which are: to publish the list of accepted employees and the commission’s report, to annul the competition and form a new, independent commission, and for the leaders of health institutions to resign.
Gjorgjević announced that the protests will continue but emphasized that the safety of the participants would be taken into consideration.
Radio Free Europe approached the Serbian List for comment on the accusations from citizens regarding party-based employment and the pressure they were under, but as of the publication of this article, there had been no response from this political entity. The Ministry of Health of the Government of Serbia, responsible for the health institutions operating in Serb areas in Kosovo, also did not provide a response.
In addition to Gračanica, the competition for jobs in the health sector was also opened in North Mitrovica, Zubin Potok, Fushë, and other institutions operating under the Serbian system.
Also, Serbia promised financial aid for the unemployed, offering support for 5,000 people in the amount of 20,000 dinars (around 170 euros), which was publicly announced last year by the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
Some of the protesters in Gračanica said that the Serbian List had prepared lists for this kind of assistance as well, adding that these lists included “suitable people.”
Assistance for Serbs in Kosovo is provided through a decision by the Serbian Government, which was made following Vučić’s announcement last September after the closure of institutions in Kosovo operating under the Serbian system.
